The outer borders of Outworlds Alliance (OA) were in constant conflict during the Third Succession War. Pirates repeatedly attacked weakly protected systems, looting or just probing their defenses. In special, worlds closer to Antallos, the pirate heaven more commonly known as Port Krin, were very exposed.
The populations of Dneiper, Milligan's World, and Prinis Prime, the three Alliance worlds closest to Antallos, have gradually abandoned their holdings in the face of repeated bandit raids. The people who stubbornly refuse to give up their homes and lands are nearly self-sufficient and long ago ceased to feel any loyalty to the Alliance government.
The populations of Dneiper, Milligan's World, and Prinis Prime, the three Alliance worlds closest to Antallos, have gradually abandoned their holdings in the face of repeated bandit raids. The people who stubbornly refuse to give up their homes and lands are nearly self-sufficient and long ago ceased to feel any loyalty to the Alliance government.
The populations of Dneiper, Milligan's World, and Prinis Prime, the three Alliance worlds closest to Antallos, have gradually abandoned their holdings in the face of repeated bandit raids. The people who stubbornly refuse to give up their homes and lands are nearly self-sufficient and long ago ceased to feel any loyalty to the Alliance government. To prevent completely loosing these worlds to pirates and raiders, the Alliance Military Corps (AMC) deployed the 2nd Battalion of the Alliance Borderers Regiment, based on Coraines to Dneiper in order to fight these invaders, usually small units ranging from a single lance to a company in the most different conditions.
The 2nd Battalion was the first receive the new VTOL models produced in Ramora and Company created was name as "The Razorbacks".
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Eating Sand
It was an infinity landscape of arid cliffs and hills with scattered woods. Sky was blue with no clouds and this helped Commander Molina spot a salvo of LRMs coming on the direction of his Hellcat, totally missing him and hitting the ground well below his left side. It was a large double salvo, most likely from two LRM-15s or 20s.
Molina’s wingman, Trask, opened the commlink: - Commander, it is the Trebuchet from the target lance! It shouldn’t be here!
Molina replies immediately and give orders to all units: They spot our recons and knew we were coming! The others must not be far. This will be a standard pincer move, guys! Hannigan, you take 9 o’clock! Rusty, you take 3 o’clock position! Each wingman flowing their leader! Remember your training!
Knowing that your recon was not always reliable, Molina ordered his units to fly in formation. His Hellcat LRM, armed with 6 LRM5s was flying high at maximum speed, sided by Trask and looking for the target Battlemech lance that they were supposed to intercept and destroy.
The other four choppers were flying low to avoid detection. Two Wildcats armed with a single Autocannon class 10 were following on the left and other two Hellcats were coming from right side, but these ones armed with a feared Autocannon class 20.
The target was a lance of pirate raiders reported having medium and light mechs. Probably aware of the incoming Free World League forces, the Battlemechs took full advantage of their superior sensors to detect and fire first. For Molina’s unit lucky, it seems that only the Trebuchet has long range weapons. Anyway, a Hellcat at flank speed is very hard to hit at long range.
- Rusty, there is a Cicada coming fast in your direction! – said Molina
The other two mechs reported were a Jenner and an Ostroc, that Molina also spot taking cover behind the elevated terrain.
Molina reduces speed for a more precise shot, followed by Trask. Both combine fire of 12 LRM 5s on the Trebuchet that shows confidence on his skills, keep position on top of hills, returning LRM fire against Molina and ignoring the two Wildcats coming from his front-right side. Even being at long range for his AC/10, Hannigan’s gunner – Talia – place a shot on the torso of the Trebuchet that is also hit by a few LRMs. Hannigan’s wingman, Kemp, miss the target. The Trebuchet, a standard 5N model with 2 LRM-15s and Medium Lasers, miss all shots.
Wildcats are highly effective machines, 25ton helicopters well armored and equipped with an autocannon class 10. A crew of two manage it: a pilot in command and a gunner responsible to aim the gun. Different from ancient helicopter gunships, the Wildcat has its AC/10 in a pivotable mount with 45 degrees transverse to each side, giving more freedom of maneuver while a target is engaged.
At the same time, Rusty pilots his Hellcat AC/20 close to the ground followed by his wingman Snap. Instead of finding the Cicada, them both face a much bigger Ostroc firing large lasers at them without success. They could not identify the Battlemech variant and engage it with the AC/20s at medium range. One round hit the torso removing almost all armor – the Ostroc is shaken by the blast.
Molina continues to keep fire on the Trebuchet together with the Wildcats ripping off the external armor of its arms and legs. The Trebuchet cannot sustain so much damage and falls to the ground in a cloud of sand, dust and shrapnel.
While this, a Jenner emerges from the hills firing at short range on the Hellcats that attacked the Ostroc. Medium Lasers and SRMs hit the left side and the rotors of Snap’s Hellcat. Rotors are the most fragile part of a chopper and even an armored 30-ton helicopter like the Hellcat cannot take much damage to it. The Hellcat is equipped with an armored 8-blade rotor with automatic stabilization control able to eject damaged blades and keep flying at expense of reduced maneuverability and speed. But the multiple SRM hits taken were much more than Snap’s chopper could handle. With only two remaining blades, their Hellcat crashed in the rocky soil of Fagerholm. As long they were flying extremely low the impact was totally absorbed by the landing gear with minor armor damage – even the gun remained fully operational.
Unsurprisingly, the Cicada (a very rare 3C model) keeps moving at full speed becoming a very difficult target. However, this affects its own aiming and it miss to hit anything with his PPC.
Molina realizes that the engagement turned to a dogfight and he tells your crews to freely engage the targets. As an experienced pilot and gunner, he started his career as gunner in a time that Free Worlds League formed its first hunter-killer unit of helicopters with a single company of Wildcats armed with autocannons or LRMs.
Commander Molina knows every single strength and weakness of these units but, above all, he cares for his crews. At a higher point while firing at the Trebuchet, he observes Snap’s Hellcat crash-landing and communicate to them:
- Snap, Val! Get off now! – Molina says in a strong tone.
But Snap’s gunner, Val, replies with confidence: I still have the Ostroc in my sight. I will take him down!
- No way! Get off at once! – Molina says.
- Come on, Val! It is an order! – says Snap, and both leave their armored cockpits.
The Jenner scored a fatal blow to the Hellcat AC/20, but turned his rear arc to Molina that immediately takes advantage of the situation and fires a full LRM salvo against it, easily destroying the rear torso armor, damaging the internal structure and igniting the SRM ammo causing an explosion that completely destroy the Jenner with its mechwarrior inside.
While this, the crippled Trebuchet stand up and move backwards looking for cover in woods, only to notice Rusty’s Hellcat flying over him and making a 180o turn to fire at its rear arc. The Trebuchet had no time to react and receive an AC/20 hit in the rear torso, complete destroying it.
The two Wildcats continue to fly in close formation and near the ground, reducing speed while dodging the hills to avoid a collision and to engage the Cicada that moves on their direction and fires at Hannigan’s Wildcat, blowing his entire left side armor but without any other consequences – one more hit in that location and Hannigan and his gunner are dead.
While that, the Ostroc engages the crashed Hellcat, destroying it and jumps to the same cliff that the Cicada moved to. Snap and Val had time to take cover and are not hit by the explosion.
Molina and his wingman Trask cannot see anymore the Ostroc and the Cicada, as they smartly look for cover in rocky terrain. In an attempt to find these two remaining Battlemechs, both Hellcats move laterally at the same altitude to find a firing position.
Hannigan is supposed to withdrawn with his damaged Wildcat but notices the Ostroc jumping behind him and firing the two Large Lasers. He orders his wingman to break formation and make a backward movement, gaining altitude and engaging the Ostroc. Both sides miss their shots.
The Cicada moves at high speed away from his lance mates dodging trees and elevations, maybe in hope to get a longer distance to shot back with the PPC, but immediately notice that Rusty’s Hellcat is as fast as him and can close easily flying above any ground obstacle. That flying AC/20 getting close should be a freighting view.
The elusive Cicada dodge a first autocannon hit and suddenly turns against the Hellcat raising a cloud of sand dust around him. Too close for a precise PPC shot and too far for a Machine Gun, it misses all shots.
The clever maneuver makes Rusty fly over the Cicada as they move in the opposite direction now. The Cicada now heads toward the Ostroc.
In this moment, Molina tells Trask to fire on the Cicada while he engages the Ostroc. All his units will get out of ammo soon and a long engagement is not good for them.
Apparently running hot, the Ostroc engages the undamaged Wildcat with a single Large Laser. This model jumps much longer but misses Medium Lasers or SRMs. Molina never saw such variant but has no complains at this moment. The combined fire of the LRMs and AC/10s damage the Ostroc, reaching the internals and destroying its Left Leg which eliminates any chance of escape.
Now the Cicada targets the Wildcats that are attacking the cripples the Ostroc but miss a PPC shot.
Rusty makes a tight turn and manage to engage the Cicada, hitting the right leg and torso and crippling the Battlemech. It is destroyed almost at the same time with one of the last LRM rounds from Trask’s Hellcat. The mechwarrior has no time to eject.
The Ostroc is the only remaining mech of the lance but crippled and unable to escape. Few seconds probably looked like long minutes as the mechwarrior takes the decision to eject – in time to see his mech being attacked and destroyed by multiple attacks from all directions.
Battle over and no sign of other enemy units, Molina calls the command center and request an armed transport to rescue Snap and Val, and capture the surviving mechwarrior. There is little salvage left from this battle but a prisoner is much more valuable at this point.
The balance was positive. Even with one Hellcat AC/20 lost, the enemy lance was neutralized and no crew member was killed or injured. The bonus is the mechwarrior captured that may bring important information about the other enemy mechs.
